A Silly Thing Called Pride
by MySilentVoice
Summary: Pride, one of the seven deadly sins. If there were consequences for it, Natsume and Mikan would be condemned by now! A seemingly harmless tiff leads to mass destruction, yet neither refuses to back down. Well, they say that only fools fall in love, after all.


**_A Silly Thing Called Pride_**

**_Chapter 1_**

_By MySilentVoice_

...

Before really diving into the story, it is imperative that one understands what pride can do to a person. A mere feeling it may be, but a powerful one that instigates wars, tears lovers apart, and crushes all sparkly dreams and hopes. Now this feeling is not absent in any human, nope, it is perfectly natural to be an egoistic airhead. But it has to be done in moderation. Now this is where Natsume Hyuuga and Mikan Sakura come in. Both of which are a prime examples of unnecessarily strong pride. Add in their stubbornness and fiery determination and you have what we call a pair of fools.

Now this pair of fools were driving their friends nuts with their stupid, stupid pride. It all started with an accidentally displaced bowl of soup, a couple of screams, and the release of some of Ruka's more favored animals into the dining hall. Of course, this commotion was completely centered around the happy foolish couple, unbelievable as it may seem.

Well, they weren't so happy at the moment.

Mikan Sakura was currently pointing an accusing finger at Natsume Hyuuga, who was, for reasons best left unsaid, standing in a pool of chicken soup atop a table. The hot liquid dripped from his hair, and his face was contorted into one of disbelief and undeniable fury. A hushed silence had fallen over the crowd watching them, who had, just a few minutes earlier been eating their dinner peacefully.

"You…you…!" Mikan Sakura seemed a bit incapable of speech at the moment, but the anger was clearly shown in her eyes.

Natsume was busy silencing a few daring students who somehow had the nerve to laugh at his sorry state with his infamous glare. That glare soon found a new target. The students waited with bated breath for the pair to make a move, while others watched with a mixture of amusement and concern.

One of those others was Ruka Nogi, he had rounded up the animals behind an upturned table and was slowly making his way towards the feuding pair. None of them acknowledged his presence even as he stood between them. He cleared his throat.

"Come on you two. You've caused enough trouble for the night. Natsume, go get cleaned up. Sakura, let's deal with this later shall we?"

Mikan shifted her attention to him, and suddenly, he wished he hadn't spoke. Had he not learned anything from those late night meetings with Koko, Mochu and the other guys? On those nights they would attempt to unravel the mystery behind the walking phenomenon known as women, and they had all quickly come to the conclusion that they were crazy and not to be messed with. Well, Ruka was a reluctant participant of these meetings, but that didn't mean he didn't listen.

Mikan Sakura certainly looked crazy at the moment, and she had that, 'don't mess with me' face on.

Oh dear.

"Later? Later?" she snapped. "Ruka, your best friend here just violated the rules of our temporary non-aggression pact and you want to resolve this later?"

Ruka slowly backed away. "Well, I mean -"

"Don't drag Ruka into this," Natsume growled suddenly. "This is just between you and me, polka."

"You still have the nerve to call me that after what you did?" she practically screamed.

"I'll do whatever I want to."

"Have you no manners? How could you be so rude?"

"Not rude. Just stating my thoughts as they are. Honesty is the best policy."

"Honesty? Don't make me laugh."

"Not trying to."

"Damn you."

There was a slight pause as everyone to a moment to realize Mikan had just cursed Natsume. Ruka paused halfway on his route towards the upturned table and glanced worriedly at Natsume. Hotaru took advantage of a stunned Natsume and snapped some pictures of his soupy state.

Someone dropped a spoon and the sound brought everyone back to their senses. By the time they had realized it, Mikan was already gone. Hotaru sighed almost inaudibly and pocketed her camera. She gestured to Ruka. The confused boy approached her and she grabbed his sleeve roughly.

"Get him to spill. We'll rendezvous at the usual time. Let the others know."

Ruka nodded seriously and began picking his way across the messy dining hall to where Natsume stood. He slung an arm over his friend. "Come on. To the bathroom."

…

Hotaru Imai was not in the best mood. Her delicious meal of crab and high grade sushi had been disrupted by Mikan and Natsume's fight and now her dinner was lying somewhere on the dining hall floor, the contents scattered. Having rounded up a few select people to accompany her in search of Mikan, she led the concerned party to Mikan's room.

She didn't even bother to knock. She produced a tiny screwdriver from nowhere and inserted it into the keyhole, pressed a button and the door opened with a satisfying click. Mikan barely had time to look up before Hotaru had seated herself in the comfiest armchair and said, "Explain yourself."

The other girls, namely Sumire, Anna and Nonoko shuffled in with polite nods at the bewildered girl before taking up a seat on the sofa. They all looked at her expectantly.

Mikan, looking slightly miffed, went over to her desk and picked up a sheet of paper. She waved it in their faces exaggeratedly. Hotaru raised one eyebrow.

"This is?"

"The terms of our pact," Mikan explained, feeling a little irate. "The non-aggression pact me and Hyuuga agreed on."

"Last name basis now? How childish can you get Mikan?" Sumire sniffed disdainfully. "And non-aggression pact? Honey, you realize you and Natsume-kun are human beings, not warring states."

"Well if Hyuuga weren't such a jerk we wouldn't need one. But we made one anyway, two weeks ago, with Ruka-pyon and Iinchou as our witness."

"Why would you need one in the first place?" Anna asked timidly.

Mikan scowled at the paper. "We were having another fight, two weeks ago. It resulted in the trashing of two classrooms, Narumi-sensei's ripped up clothes and one casualty."

Sumire and Hotaru remained unimpressed. Anna and Nonoko gasped.

"So Ruka-pyon and the other guys forced us into this pact to prevent anymore disasters," she continued. "Iinchou supervised the whole thing. He had us write down some terms and conditions, a set of rules for each side to obey and lots of other stuff. It took us a few hours to agree on the terms but finally we sorted it out.

"The pact states that we shall not insult, injure or maim each other for a month. We are to avoid arguing and use of Alice shall not be involved. All parties must adhere to the rules presented to each other and all conflicts are to be resolved peacefully without causing any interference to the lives of others."

Hotaru snorted. "I wish."

"Failure to comply will result in a two week ban of fluff puffs for me and for Hyuuga, a confiscation of his manga stash for two weeks." Mikan said sourly. "No fluff puffs for me, no thanks to him."

"Well you're to blame for the fight too," Sumire rolled her eyes. "It takes two hands to clap."

"He started it."

"Um, exactly what did he do?" Nonoko asked.

Mikan handed her the piece of paper. "Violated rule number three."

The terms of their pact looked a bit like this:

Non-agression Pact

Involved parties: Natsume Hyuuga

Mikan Sakura

Witnesses: Ruka Nogi

Yuu Tobita

For the duration of this pact, both parties are to comply with the following rules:

Natsume shall not do anything perverted.

Mikan shall not object loudly and unnecessarily about anything.

Both shall not irritate each other.

Natsume shall not be so mean.

Mikan shall not be so annoying.

Both are to agree with each other where possible.

Signed by

Natsume Hyuuga

Mikan Sakura

Acknowledged and approved by

Ruka Nogi

Yuu Tobita

Sumire grimaced. "This is one messed up pact." Hotaru nodded in assent. "Very stupid pact."

"First of all, the rules are very vague, not to mention impossible to obey," Sumire said. "And he irritated you? Seriously? That's quite normal isn't it?"

"Maybe it was two weeks ago, but today, it is simply uncalled for!" Mikan snapped.

Hotaru sighed. She seemed to be doing that a lot recently. "Mikan, the only way you wouldn't annoy one another is if one of you were dead."

"Exactly!" Mikan said, not exactly the reply Hotaru was expecting. "Which is why I'm gonna hunt him down and rip him into shreds!"

Anna and Nonoko grabbed her arms and pulled onto the sofa with them, sighing with relief. They smiled apologetically at her but kept their arms locked around hers. "What I think you guys should do," Anna said, "Is to try being a little more patient with each other."

"Yeah, and maybe…Maybe you should swallow your pride a bit, both of you." Nonoko added.

"Well someone should tell that to him, cos he's the most egoistic jerk I've ever met!"

…

As a matter of fact, someone was telling that to Natsume that very moment.

"Natsume," Ruka said gently, "You need to swallow your pride a bit."

"Cos you're a bit of an egoistic jerk." Koko added unnecessarily. He ducked as a stream of water flew over his head. He patted Natsume on the shoulder sympathetically and handed him a towel. "There, there, I think some of that soup went in your ears. Did I say egoistic jerk? I meant to say you are a very wonderful person."

"Very funny, Koko." Ruka said dryly.

Natsume raised his head and turned off the tap. He rubbed his wet face with the towel and exited the bathroom. The boys followed him. Sitting on the floor near his bed was Mochu, Kitsu, and Iinchou. They were studying some slips of paper, and a laptop sat in Iinchou's lap. The boy looked worriedly at Natsume.

"The higher ups are demanding for the cash you owe them from the destruction of school property. And the number of hours of detention you've received have hit twenty-four hours. Also, they've issued a notice that you are to receive counseling from your homeroom teacher ." Iinchou lowered his voice. "Apparently they think you have anger issues, seeing as how a simple fight between you and Mikan can result in mass destruction."

"Well they're not too far from the truth-" Ruka hushed Koko with a glare.

Natsume remained indifferent. "She should have to pay for the damages too. It's not all my fault."

"True, but there is evidence showing that most of the damaged items were affected by your Alice, so the actual percentage of things Mikan needs to pay for is merely thirteen percent." Iinchou looked up from his computer. "I know you have the money to pay for all this, but your finances are starting to run low. If we add in today's wreckage from the dining hall, I doubt you'll have enough."

"Should we do some fund-raising?" Koko asked gleefully." I propose a bake sale."

"Get out, Koko." Natsume said.

"No can do."

Ruka was looking at Iinchou's laptop, eyes wide with disbelief. He shook his head. "How did you manage to wreck the giant Christmas tree from last year's Christmas ball?"

"She was being selfish. And she didn't want to dance with me."

"And the special abilities room?"

"It was a bad day. Andou annoyed me."

"And…the animal barn?" Ruka nearly shouted. Natsume quickly tried to placate him.

"Wrong place, wrong time, and a small incident involving strawberries. Don't worry, your beloved chick was spared."

Ruka slumped down in defeat. "Natsume, is it really necessary to cause such…wide scale destruction of school property simply because you and Mikan are having a lovers' tiff?"

"It's not a lovers' tiff. We're not even lovers."

Koko sighed dramatically and whispered loudly in Kitsu's ear. "The young ones these days are so dumb."

"Indeed, indeed. I'm beginning to lose hope in the next generation." Kitsu pointed not too subtly at Natsume. "And they call him the smart one."

"I know, what is the world becoming to?"

They watched Natsume carefully, ready to bolt at the first sign of offense. Instead, he just sat there, a towel hanging of his damp head, knees drawn up to his chest. Then he asked a question nobody ever thought they'd hear him ask.

"How do you think…one should act in order to please girls?" he asked this question haltingly, and the boys sat there gaping open-mouthed.

"Why are you asking that?" Ruka asked carefully. Natsume just stared at him. He frowned and ran a hair through his blonde locks.

"Well, that's…a difficult question."

Koko nodded eagerly. "Very difficult. We've been discussing similar topics for a long time now. I keep telling you to join us on guys' night."

"Your guys' night is just a sorry excuse for a pity party," Natsume said. "Why don't you just ask Shouda out already?" Koko looked at him blankly, then burst into laughter, which nobody joined him in.

"For starters, girls are not pleased if you pick a fight with them, and act all uppity about it later." Mochu said wisely. The others looked at him in surprise. He shrugged. "I've done some research."

"Okay," Kitsu said, breaking the awed silence. "Putting Mochu's unusual habits aside, I have to say I agree with him." He looked Nastume in the eye. "Women are…difficult creatures. It is important that all males understand...as early as possible, that there's just no way to win against a woman. It doesn't matter who's at fault, women always have the last say."

Koko, having recovered from his outburst nodded in agreement. "Pride is only a hindrance in a war against women, Natsume. They won't listen to you unless you tell them the three magic words."

"I love you?" Iinchou asked, enraptured. Koko shook his head, looking at Iinchou as if he were reprimanding a child.

"No, naïve one," he said gently. "The three words are…I…was wrong."

Kitsu and Mochu nodded, and gave Koko a few friendly slaps on the back. "So, so wise. Beautiful!" exclaimed Kitsu.

Natsume turned away in disgust. He turned to Ruka, "This is what they discuss on guys' night? And you join them?"

Ruka blushed and looked away. Natsume grinned slightly. "I have lost all respect for you."

Ruka chuckled. "I can say the same for you, Natsume."

"Me? What did I do?"

Getting to his feet, Ruka glanced at the wall clock and exchanged looks with Iinchou. "Come on guys, It's nine. Time for you know what." The boys immediately calmed down and gathered up their things. Koko nudged Natsume in the shoulder. "Don't worry, the GetNatsumeandMikanTogether Association will help you out. All you need to remember is that you were wrong. Even if you're not!"

"So is that the name of the stupid club you and the other girls are involved in?" Natsume asked dryly. Kitsu frowned. "How'd you find out?"

"I'm not an idiot."

The boys looked at him for a moment, then shuffled out the door, laughing hysterically.

…


End file.
